Interest in ice hockey has risen recently in an extraordinary manner, principally because of the introduction of professional hockey throughout the country. While interest in ice hockey was originally limited to those sections of the country enjoying ice during substantial parts of the year, it has now extended to other areas because of the extensive use of artificial ice arenas. Furthermore, organized ice hockey for young people has been promoted extensively. However, artificial ice arenas are very expensive and to many young poeple do not wish to enter the organized ice hockey leagues. Even if they did, the artificial ice available for them to use is very much limited. For that reason, there has arisen the activity of playing hockey on roller skates on a hard surface, such as an asphalt driveway. Sometimes a ball is used instead of a puck and sometimes even a puck is used. Playing hockey on roller skates, however, is limited by the fact that the skates cannot be used to move the puck the way it is in ice hockey. For instance, in ice hockey the goalie is able to provide a substantial barrier by placing his skates in alignment across the front of the goal and then placing his stick in further alignment with them. The other players are able to use their skates to manipulate the puck. These and other deficiencies of the prior art roller skates when used in playing hockey have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide roller skates in which a hockey puck is not able to slide under the center of the skate between the front and the rear wheels.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a roller skate having an inexpensive way of converting it for use in playing hockey on a hard surface.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a roller skate for use in hockey which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and which is capable of a long life of useful purpose with a minimum of maintenance.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a roller skate which can be used in playing hockey to manipulate the puck in the same way that an ice skate is so used.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a roller skate which has been modified for use in playing hockey but which does not interfere with its normal use as a roller skate.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a roller skate having a baffle element to enable it to act like an ice skate in handling a puck, but which element can be removed on occasion for use of the roller skate only in roller skating.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.